The Scenes of Documentary Can Be Faked - Movie Review Example

Student Name Institution Name Tutor Date The Scenes of Documentary Can Be Faked Introduction Documentary, carries ‘old’ information about a group of powerless people to another group addressed as socially powerful. Scenes in a documentary may be faked at times implying that the scenes may not be happening or difficult to act on afterward. From the earliest days of filmmaking, audiences have acted from the notion that "seeing is believing." It may come as a result of many factors. The factors that make faked films appear original comprise the over exaggeration of some scenes, faking of characters among others. These may have a negative and immense impact on film outcome including the acting of the film as the faking as the many limitations on the film outcome. This paper is based on the discussion about how film or documentary production can be faked and its results. The paper entails a comparative discussion of the film "On the Bowery (1956)" and "Nanook of the North" to bring out the concept of faked scenes that appear original. The main idea behind using the two historical films is to give a personal view on the claim that the scenes in the documentary should not be staging but original, without any acting. Faking Scenes In the history of documentary films, “Nanook of the North” and “On the Bowery (1956)" documentaries have significantly been criticized to exhibit major problems of faking their scenes. The act of faking happens as the acting process is hindered by the faking vices. Also, the immature characters acting in the faked scenes may not be able to give a clear outcome of the film as expected. The act goes on in various scenes where characters are actively engaged by the filmmakers in the performance. Additionally, the exaggeration of dynamic scenes, many times, leads to the unexpected outcome. This is because the exaggerated parts may lead to misunderstanding of the whole film by the audience. Such kind of misunderstanding can be noted in the two films that formed the basis of this paper: On the Bowery and “Nanook of the North”. Faking of scenes has led to the film being what was not expecting. However, the unfortunate outcome is not on the films but the audience. “Nanook of the North” was filmed from 1920-1921 in Port Harrison, Northern Quebec by Robert Joseph Flaherty. During its times, it was regarded as one of the vital and succesful documentary that existed and an accurate benchmark for the ethnographic film. Robert Flaherty is accredited with the developing of the entirely unknown culture to the western world. The film was widely accepted leading to its fame worldwide. However, it had its weaknesses arising from faking of some of its scenes. Nonetheless, the act of scene faking is not only evident in “Nanook of the North” but also “On the Bowery (1956)" film. The faking problem can be further identified in many other documentaries through an insightful study of the documentary practices. The subject of faking scenes can be traced from the British Documentary Film Movement of the 1930s. The Rogosin's “On the Bowery”, fitted within the great tradition of documentary films as represented by Robert Flaherty, Mark Donskoi, Humphrey Jennings, Vladimir I. Pudovkin and Alexander Dovshenko. Documentary Film Making The proponents of documentary film making have existed before including Basil Wright whose Song of Ceylon was regarded and mooted to be one of the high points of that characterizes the British documentary film movement. The defence for documentary film making made the proponents like Basil Wright to be respected. However, the question that worth an answer is as to whether a film of staged scenes, as in the case “On the Bowery (1956)", and the restaged films as in the case of “Nanook of the North” should be designated as a documentary film. In an attempt to understand and give a clear answer to this claim, it is important to trace the historical significance of documentary film creation. In this view, the most innovative and dominant figures in the history of documentary film were Dziga Vertov and Robert Flaherty. These two views stood out to oppose each other, as can be seen, which todate complicates the subject of documentary film creation. In deed the American view of documentary film enables people, todate, to trace a particular tradition in documentary film. As noted, the historical view of documentary film creation was to preserve traditions. Nonetheless this paper posit that creativity, experimentalism, and innovativeness, as in the Russian view, cannot make staged or restaged films not fit for documentary record. In fact, innovation and creativity are just approches that make audience be more engauged even though the reality side of the film may not be obvious to the eye. Taking a position on documentary film in the past was viewed as untenable and quite clear, but what is still fascinating about it is its theorising on realism in relation to film. Therefore, this paper further entails a closer look into realism and film and the historical theories that soround them. Even though Rogosin’s view about “On the Bowery” supports its suitability to be in the documentary films, as opposed to the “Nanook of the North”, theories can still challenge Rogosin’s position. A closer look at the generally accepted formulation of the baisc guidelines and principles that characterizes the documentary of a film, as put forward by John Grierson, it becomes clear that there is misapprehension on the structure and constituents of documentary film in “On the Bowery”. Presumably the most generally acknowledged meaning of documentary film was defined by Grierson: documentary as 'the creative treatment of actuality'. Going by Grierson’s defination, this paper supports the view that staging scenes can be included in the documentary as a creative way of presenting the original traditions, as claimed in the historic view of American on documentary films. Grierson hypothesized three standards of documentary film. The first is that narrative film ought to catch or pass on the essence of a living story or living scene. Second is the utilization of non-professional characters in their "natural" surroundings to offer a superior plausibility for the film documentarist to exhibit a perplexing interpretation of this present reality. Third is that the materials or stories illuminating the structure of narrative film ought to be raw and taken from genuine other than from acted circles. In the view of this paper, “On the Bowery” is more suitable for documentary film creation given its rich features in the three aspcts as put forward by Grierson. The “Nanook of the North” seems to have documentary film from raw and real life as well as from acted circles. The materials from acted circles can be noted from the fact that “Nanook of the North” is a restaged film, implying it was reconstructed so to speak. A deeper sense of supporting staged or restaged scenes in documentary films can be deduced in the interpretation of reality into exciting and meaningful constructs. In this view, reality in documentary films can be presented in an artistic process, rather than in a mere presentation of objective reality, which usually than not a false image of reality. Hence, the authentic reconstruction of reality in an exciting and meaningful ways should be the cardinal construct of documentary film, as exemplified by both “On the Bowery” and “Nanook of the North”. It implies that even if “Nanook of the North” fails to portray the third element in the Grierson’s principles of documentary film, the film still meets the threshold of documentary film. For instance, Rogosin in On the Bowery has suddenly caught the recreated reality of the sadness of heavy drinkers on Skid Row. The realism in the documentary film is of a general human interest. Here, it is significant to remember that "realism is an issue not only for literature: it is a major political, philosophical and practical issue and must be handled and explained as such –as a matter of general human interest."6 Therefore, reality is in the imparting of the various forms of historical knowledge that inform the poetic structure of the documentary films, such as “On the Bowery” and “Nanook of the North”. In the context of these two documentary filmic praxis, historical knowledge means living knowledge which can open a way to intervention thus facilitating the possible alteration of the situations depicted in them. This view can be deduced from “On the Bowery” where Rogosin’s central concern in making documentary films stated: "I want to give man a new dignity, to make a true national hero of a Nebraska farmer, a Pennsylvania coal miner, a Harlem taxi driver. One of the mainstreams of American art –from Whitman to Flaherty –aimed at precisely this goal”. Sufrin's interpretation of the reality of making On the Bowery, writes: "Making On the Bowery taught me a method of molding reality into a form that could touch the imagination of others. To capture reality spontaneously and to give it life, more is involved of course than simply casting people of the milieu. They must be allowed to be themselves, to express themselves in their own manner but in accordance with the abstractions and themes." The molding of reality into form not only visible in On the Bowery (1954) but also “Nanook of the North” films. In view of allowing actors to be themselves and express themselves in their own manner is evident, Flaherty’s Nanook of the North is viewed as influences on Chronicle (Rouch 32). Rouch admired the reflexive methods in the Nanook of the North and praised Flaherty’s method of screening unedited footage to his subjects, a practice he replicated in Chronicle in the scene in which the filmmakers screen a rough cut of the film to its subjects. Similarly, Morin acknowledged On the Bowery (1956) as an influence on his conceptions of filmmaking (Morin 5). Rogosin employed a number of destitute occupants of Bowery Street, then New York’s ‘skid row’, to enact their lives for his camera. Insightfully, the process bears some resemblance to the way in which the participants in Chronicle ‘perform’ a role. The preparation for, and the filming of, On the Bowery and Nanook of the North, provide insightful information regarding the striving for ethics in the two filmic praxis. In view of On the Bowery, Mark Sufrin, associate on, and author of the screenplay of this film, expressed that the vital point of the film was to catch the condition of insignificance, alienation and anomie of heavy drinkers inside of an individualized and dramatic structure. The goal was not to make an embodiment or typical representation of alcoholic life on Skid Row, but instead, "to tell a simple story", which would give bring about the essence of truth about the place. In this regard, the story-line On the Bowery was reconstructed from the genuine backgrounds of heavy drinkers on the Bowery. In as much as On the Bowery has scary scenes created through faking, the Nanook and the North also presented the audience with situations which made it difficult for them to get attracted to scenes. Therefore, this makes faking of scenes in a documentary a reality. Unfortunately this can hinder the achievement of the expectations of the film audience as well as the film objectives. For the filmmakers to avoid these risks of the making their scenes ambiguous and difficult to understand, the mode of capturing the scenes should be well defined to ensure that even the audiences get attracted to the actions taking place in the end film acting. The observational film posts a threat of wrong film direction. The observational film may contain some errors, which may be difficult to realize. These errors may end up being incorporated in the end film thus making the film different from putting an end to the expectations of designers. In the “Nanook and the North”, the observational film was misled in the direction of the end film. This mainly happens as some significant errors go unrealized yet are still incorporated in the end film presented for the audience. Furthermore, in the “Nanook and the North,” the experimental film, as opposed to On the Bowery reality film, has some hint on the facing some famous scenes. In the Nanook and the North film, some characters underperform the situation thus leading to faking of the scenes. These may have adverse outcome of the film expectations. This situation happens when some characters may not perform the scenes when they are presented with the opportunity to do so. The faking of the scenes by the observational film can also be brought about by the scenes being exaggerated by the filmmakers. For example, some actions are greatly exaggerated for the benefits of filmmakers. The exaggeration of the scenes by the filmmakers presented by the observational means has led to going astray. The scenes exaggerated may give fault analysis of the documentary scenes by the film designers and mostly the audience. The filmmaker can improve the scenes by devising methods to make considerably steps according to each scene’s expectations (Young, 70). This is possible as the audience whom the scenes are presented to can make many suggestions on how the scenes should appear and how they should give to the public. For instance, in the “Nanook and the North”, the film designers were shown the opportunities to improve the faked scenes by the characters. Comparatively, Nanook of the North as well as On the Bowery, therefore, had some scene faking incidences considering the events of the observational film. However, the film observation also gave the “Nanook of the North” some chances of improving the identified faked scenes leading to the verification of the detected scenes. In the film Nanook and the North, scene faking is identified in the various situations where cinema of attractions took an important role in the film development (De Heusch, 120). The cinema of attractions mostly uses scene faking to help in the improving the general audience view, some of these scenes may end up being incorporated into the final documentary film, and hence making the documentary’s last work full of faked scenes. Cinema of attractions, therefore, should be critically and creatively used as means of scene development as evidenced in the Nanook and the North film documentary. The faking of Nanook and the North scenes can also be evidenced a study of a particular institution or movement. The notable examples include: The National Film Board of Canada, Free Cinema, Direct Cinema among others. A study of a particular organization or movement as the National Film Board of Canada also helped deduce evidence on the faking of the scenes on the Nanook and the North documentary. They were able to state some of the faking evidence in the Nanook and the North. According to their studies on the Nanook and the North, a basic differences that exist between documentary film and fiction narratives is the documentation of the real events and creation of imaginations respectively. Faking of scenes is extremely prevalent in the Nanook and the North as appeared by the cinema of attractions by the Nanook and the North well known achievement when it was discharged in 1922; Nanook conveyed its heroic title character to a group of people who knew nothing about the Native tribes of the north. The film exhibits a way of life that was vanishing as Flaherty, in the previous a wayfarer and prospector began to report it. We see the strong Inuit Nanook pursuing with lances, pulling up to a trading station in a kayak and trading with the white proprietor. We see his family amassing an igloo and bedding down for the night. The film illustrates as much his certainty as it does Nanook's naivety. All these events are greatly exaggerated in the film documentary thus giving some of the scenes of the film faked nature. Flaherty, who posted the film, did not undergo a film training while working for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He coincidentally devastated the greater part of his original footage. Unprecedented, Flaherty reevaluated his doc into what we now perceive as classic form: Instead of attempting to catch the way of life, he picked one man as his primary character, passage into an obscure world. John Grierson on the creative statement of actuality noted that the purpose of reality is eroded. Imaginations are thus created and made real. So documentaries hide their fictions. The functionality is thus differed as it was supposed to reveal the truth. When they diverge then it looses its function. It brings sociality created representation by theorist is what is bringing falsehood. Representation of documentaries in the text has proved guilty. There is no sighting of evidence. Seeing is believing. When documentaries are theorised, it loses its aspect. It brings in this false fatalities. The writer imagines his things to make it more appealing. The reader takes it raw. He beliefs it and creates a vacuum. The truth will be there but it cannot be reached. This difficult situation has faked documentaries. Some documentaries can be lies. Some are true. Distinguishing between the lie and truth has become a problem. Then people who existed then left little or no truth to it. That stipulation by researchers is creating a real issue. Everybody tends to create some theory. Theorizing real concepts lead to lies. Documentaries should be original as much as possible. Due to time, the originality has eroded and is dependent on scanty evidence. Documentaries are also exaggerated by governments. To promote particular products, its appearance is exaggerated (Bottomore, 122). The fact that this faked scenes and values are recorded creates many false documentaries. World’s military firepower will tend to be fake. Abilities of countries to defend particular issue like terrorism are faked. Documentaries are also exaggerated. Documentaries had stitched narrations together with footages. He had little of lectures. Televisions would draw close attention to audiences. His dramatic stories were picked immediately to televisions. He achieved his real documentaries by using his light weight camera. He would take incidences as they occur. Even those with at most secrecy were captured. Documentaries need trustworthiness and failure to go by leads to jail. Conclusion This paper supports that scenes in a documentary may be faked at times implying that the scenes may not be happening or difficult to act on afterward. The factors that make faked films appear original comprise the over exaggeration of some scenes, faking of characters among others. In as much as “Nanook of the North” and “On the Bowery (1956)" have significantly been criticized in the history to exhibit major problems of faking their scenes, Nanook of the North has more faked scenes than On the Bowery. However, the question that worth an answer is as to whether a film of staged scenes, as in the case “On the Bowery (1956)", and the restaged films as in the case of “Nanook of the North” should be designated as a documentary film. In view of this paper, it is important to trace the historical significance of documentary film creation. As noted, the historical view of documentary film creation was to preserve traditions and culture. Nonetheless the inclusion of innovation, creativity and experiments should not amount to a film being unfit for documentary records. Even though Rogosin’s view about “On the Bowery” supports its suitability to be in the documentary films, as opposed to the “Nanook of the North”, theories can still challenge Rogosin’s position. Going by Grierson’s defination, this paper supports the view that staging scenes can be included in the documentary as a creative way of presenting the original traditions, as claimed in the historic view of American on documentary films. In the view of this paper, “On the Bowery” is more suitable for documentary film creation given its rich features in the three aspcts as put forward by Grierson. The molding of reality into form not only visible in On the Bowery (1954) but also “Nanook of the North” films. In view of allowing actors to be themselves and express themselves in their own manner is evident, Flaherty’s Nanook of the North is viewed as influences on Chronicle. Therefore, this makes faking of scenes in a documentary a reality that we must live with. To conclude, among the primary concerns of documentary is a search for truth. Even though ‘truth’ is relative and debatable, in documentary films, it should be viewed as a shared goal between the filmmaker and the audience. What makes the audiences to believe in the truth of the documentary relates to the power of the documentary in conveying the truth in an exciting and enjoyable way, which are elements of staged or restaged and faked films. As viewers, we should understand the strategies that filmmakers employ to gain and retain our confidence and trust in the reality that is conveyed in the film. Historically, the film audiences have expected agreement between the filmed record and events that have actually occurred in the real world. Work Cited Rosenthal, Alan, and John Corner. New challenges for documentary. Manchester University Press, 2005. Alpert, Mark, et al. "Science and Fiction." (1989) Young, Colin. "Observational cinema." Principles of visual anthropology (1975): 65-80. Gentleman, Wally. "Special photographic effects as an aid to low-budget production." Journal of the SMPTE 71.7 (1962): 487-492. Ellis, John. "Documentary and truth on television: the crisis of 1999." New challenges for documentary (2005): 342-60 Cook, Tim. "Canada’s Great War on Film: Lest We Forget (1935)." Canadian Military History 14.3 (2012): 2. De Heusch, Luc. "The cinema and social science: A survey of ethnographic and sociological films∗." Visual Anthropology 1.2 (1988): 99-156. Bottomore, Stephen. "Filming, faking and propaganda: The origins of the war film, 1897-1902." (2007). Mario, Amma. "The Evolution and Impact of Documentary Films." Senior Honors Projects (2007): 42. Loiperdinger, Martin, and Bernd Elzer. "Lumiere's arrival of the train: Cinema's founding myth." The Moving Image 4.1 (2004): 89-118. Barsam, Richard Meran. Nonfiction film: a critical history. Vol. 706. Indiana University Press, 1992. Dancyger, Ken. The technique of film and video editing: history, theory, and practice. CRC Press, 2014. Whissel, Kristen. "Placing the Spectator on the Scene of History: the battle re-enactment at the turn of the century, from Buffalo Bill's Wild West to the Early Cinema." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 22.3 (2002): 225-243. Roscoe, Jane, and Craig Hight. Faking it: Mock-documentary and the subversion of factuality. Manchester University Press, 2001. Crawford, Peter Ian, and David Turton. Film as ethnography. Manchester University Press, 1992. Wiseman, Frederick. "Methodological bias in public opinion surveys." The Public Opinion Quarterly 36.1 (1972): 105-108. Benson, Thomas W., and Carolyn Anderson. Reality fictions: the films of Frederick Wiseman. SIU Press, 1989. Nichols, Bill. Representing reality: Issues and concepts in the documentary. Vol. 681. Indiana University Press, 1991. Read More

The Rogosin's “On the Bowery”, fitted within the great tradition of documentary films as represented by Robert Flaherty, Mark Donskoi, Humphrey Jennings, Vladimir I. Pudovkin and Alexander Dovshenko. Documentary Film Making The proponents of documentary film making have existed before including Basil Wright whose Song of Ceylon was regarded and mooted to be one of the high points of that characterizes the British documentary film movement. The defence for documentary film making made the proponents like Basil Wright to be respected.

However, the question that worth an answer is as to whether a film of staged scenes, as in the case “On the Bowery (1956)", and the restaged films as in the case of “Nanook of the North” should be designated as a documentary film. In an attempt to understand and give a clear answer to this claim, it is important to trace the historical significance of documentary film creation. In this view, the most innovative and dominant figures in the history of documentary film were Dziga Vertov and Robert Flaherty.

These two views stood out to oppose each other, as can be seen, which todate complicates the subject of documentary film creation. In deed the American view of documentary film enables people, todate, to trace a particular tradition in documentary film. As noted, the historical view of documentary film creation was to preserve traditions. Nonetheless this paper posit that creativity, experimentalism, and innovativeness, as in the Russian view, cannot make staged or restaged films not fit for documentary record.

In fact, innovation and creativity are just approches that make audience be more engauged even though the reality side of the film may not be obvious to the eye. Taking a position on documentary film in the past was viewed as untenable and quite clear, but what is still fascinating about it is its theorising on realism in relation to film. Therefore, this paper further entails a closer look into realism and film and the historical theories that soround them. Even though Rogosin’s view about “On the Bowery” supports its suitability to be in the documentary films, as opposed to the “Nanook of the North”, theories can still challenge Rogosin’s position.

A closer look at the generally accepted formulation of the baisc guidelines and principles that characterizes the documentary of a film, as put forward by John Grierson, it becomes clear that there is misapprehension on the structure and constituents of documentary film in “On the Bowery”. Presumably the most generally acknowledged meaning of documentary film was defined by Grierson: documentary as 'the creative treatment of actuality'. Going by Grierson’s defination, this paper supports the view that staging scenes can be included in the documentary as a creative way of presenting the original traditions, as claimed in the historic view of American on documentary films.

Grierson hypothesized three standards of documentary film. The first is that narrative film ought to catch or pass on the essence of a living story or living scene. Second is the utilization of non-professional characters in their "natural" surroundings to offer a superior plausibility for the film documentarist to exhibit a perplexing interpretation of this present reality. Third is that the materials or stories illuminating the structure of narrative film ought to be raw and taken from genuine other than from acted circles.

In the view of this paper, “On the Bowery” is more suitable for documentary film creation given its rich features in the three aspcts as put forward by Grierson. The “Nanook of the North” seems to have documentary film from raw and real life as well as from acted circles. The materials from acted circles can be noted from the fact that “Nanook of the North” is a restaged film, implying it was reconstructed so to speak. A deeper sense of supporting staged or restaged scenes in documentary films can be deduced in the interpretation of reality into exciting and meaningful constructs.

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